The man with my face
by Mister Seth Charles Lillard
Summary: Is kindof a parody of the episode where Archer orders Phlox to make a Trip clone for him. Some what similar to that, only here, we see what Sim really thinks, and understand his feelings. A little sharing,... a little caring. T for language.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer_: _I like this show, but sadly I don't own it. Hell, I don't even own the clothes on my back, let alone an entire television show complete with cast and crew... Though Aurora came straight from that death trap known as my imagination._

What was that strange, foreign sound?

It sounded like whistling, but was beautiful and melodious.

Sim slowly woke up to the early morning, the dawn's rays gently warming his face, and glistening in his crystal blue eyes. At first, he saw nothing but the metal underside of his quarter's roof, and still it was only an unfocused blur. A minute later, his vision cleared and the metal grew in detail.

Sim felt older. Uncomprehendingly older than he had been yesterday, like at least five years were spent away in his sleep. The boy reached out into the open air above him, and studied the back of his hand.

No doubt, it seemed larger and more masculine than it had the night before. In fact, dark brown hairs were even beginning to grow on his forearm. His suspicions were correct. He had aged in his sleep.

As he realized this, a sudden jolt of sorrowful electrocution, something he had known all too well, jerked at his innards.. That feeling of such a great want for a wish to come true, that it clumped into a pit of disappointment and misery in his stomach whenever it didn't. He supposed it's what they called 'dying a little on the inside'. If that was true, then his soul would be nothing but a rotting corpse.

Suddenly he heard it again, that strange sound. The young boy sat bolt up right in his bed and listened intently in the moment of silence, his ears perked, and his beautiful eyes wild. Very slowly, as if making too much noise, or too sudden of movements might scare of the disturber, Sim dangled his legs over the edge of his bed, and pulled his arms and legs through a large, gray article of clothing. Silently, he zipped it up the front.

Then it whistled, whatever it was. Whistled with such talent and magnificence.

Sim suddenly sprang to his feet, his new teenage body feeling strangely energetic, and bolted out of bed. With unexplained quickness, he sprinted across his room, threw open the door, and disappeared in to the darkened hallway.

He heard it again, to his right.

At the end of the hall, was a window, open just a jar for fresh air. Sim took a step forward and halted, his conscious splitting in two. One half of him wanted to know what could create such a beautiful noise, and the other half was deathly wary. Not often does Phlox tend to leave the windows open. Could this be a test, or a trick?

But then it whistled again, and in that musical note, all doubt was obliterated. Sim cautiously advanced to the open window, tiptoeing as stealthily as he could.

Outside the open window was an arbutus tree, and hidden in the braches and leaves of the tree was a small creature, barely the size of his palm. The little creature was dark gray, expect for it's bright red chest, and for the yellow on it's beak.

"A robin." Sim chimed, realizing what it was. He chuckled to himself, amused with this little creature.

Very silently, a peice of the shadows detatched itself from the rest, and a tall figure walked down the hallway toward the boy, gently placing a large hand on the his slim shoulder. Sim startled, and glanced back.

"Doctor Phlox," he heaved, overcome with relief. The boy smiled at his guardian, and turned back to the bird. "Look, it's a robin." he gestured out the window.

Phlox smiled weakly, and glanced down with pitiful eyes at Sim. "That it is, my dear boy." he said, his usual jolly voice giving no hint of deeper emotions, "That it is."

Sim glanced back again at the doctor, and saw the secret he had always kept hidden away, shine in those orange eyes. He saw the sorrow of the secret, and the desire to reveal it, but he also saw the fear of doing so, reflect in his strange and wonderously eccentric eyes.

That was the thing about these people, Sim had noticed. They all looked at him with that same respect and expression.

He felt the knot form in his stomach, as it had only moments ago, the knot of disappointment. But once again, as it had the first time he heard it, the robin's song pushed that feeling clear out of his system.

"Wow." Sim sighed in bewilderment. "Isn't it beautiful."

Phlox turned to the open window and stared baffled at the bird. "Ohh." he finally said in realization. "I suppose you've never seen one before, have you?" he asked.

"Well, course I have." Sim stated quite plainly. "I saw one in a photograph book once. My mom gave it to me for my tenth birthday. . . I suppose it's with her, where ever she is ." Phlox suddenly glanced down at Sim, baffled even more.

"I've never heard one before, though" Sim continued, "All the book said, was that robin's could whistle, but I thought it would sound like how Sir whistles."

"--You mean you remember your mother..." the doctor interrupted, but then broke off.

"Course I remember my mom. She's the nicest lady I know." Sim turned to Phlox, and grew a little suspicious "Why wouldn't I?"

The alien turned away from the boy's inquisitive stare, realizing how impulsive and random he had been., especially since the Captain had just briefed him on his behaviour toward the child.

"-oh, no reason, no reason" Phlox muttered off handily. He nervously ran long fingers through his fiery red hair, and accidentally felt his inhuman ridges along the back of his skull.

For a short moment, there held an awkward pause between the Human and the Denobulian. Even if the air around them seemed tense, they still enjoyed each other's company, listening and watching this little creature.

Sim couldn't hold it in, he had to ask. Maybe this time, Phlox would tell him.

"Doctor Phlox?" he ventured cautiously, " Where are my mom and dad?" Sim kept sure his eyes were locked on the robin, for if he turned to his caretaker, he knew he would see a pair of orange eyes grow suddenly misted and grief-stricken. He could see Dr. Phlox beg with himself to tell the boy the truth, but something kept his tongue still. "Why can't I find them?" he continued.

And as he suspected, the doctor remained silent. A mild electrical charge followed the unanswered question for a moment, where neither wanted to look at the other. After that moment had passed, Phlox cleared his throat and comfortingly patted Sim's shoulder. "Breakfast should be ready. I'll meet you in the kitchen." and disappeared into the shadows from which he had emerged.

Once again, Sim was alone. Oddly, it had seemed that way throughout his entire stay here,... wherever here was.

Sim stepped forward, briskly opened the window wider, and leant heavily against the window frame. This simple but sudden action, startled the robin, who flew from the tree. Sim sighed so deeply and despairing, watching the little bird flutter into the rising sun. "Even the birds think I'm weird." he moaned.

The curious boy slowly stuck his head out the window, and immediately felt the crispness of an approaching Autumn. A cool breeze swept past his sleepy head, waking his senses. Sim had always liked the smell that Fall carried, as it hide around the bend. It invigorated him, and refreshed his mind. The boy tried to forget his feelings of malcontent, and try to focus on the here and now. And who cared what silly secret his guardians kept from him? Not him, that's for sure.

Something on a certain gust that blew around his head, must've carried a familiar sent. A sent that carried him far, far, away from Nova, and back to the planet Earth.

Sim suddenly saw himself in black and white, as if through an old film. He saw himself raking leaves in the front yard of his house, through the memory. It was a day much like today, he remembered. The wind was just catching it's first nip, when his dad told him to rake the front yard. Sim remembered feeling frustrated that he had to do all the work, just because he was the boy.

He also noticed that the garment he wore, he had never seen before. It was much different from his usual loose fitted dark gray jumpsuit he wore, day in, day out. All though he wasn't the only one to wear this uniform, but he was the only one to wear gray, everyone else wore navy blue with specific stripes around the shoulders. Everyone else except Phlox and Aurora, but that was because they were aliens, and not part of Starfleet. They were different, and he supposed he was too.

Then it struck him. The garment he wore in his memory, was his lucky green sweater, given to him by his baby sister on Christmas.

Funny,...somehow he had forgotten. Sim supposed that that too, was with his parents, along with his photograph book, his Gameboy, his signed baseball,...and his little sister.

"Why can't I find them?" A frustrated growl escaped his desperate lips, "They're right there, and I'm right here. So why the hell can't I get to them?"

With these words, Sim was suddenly wrenched from the reassuring and familiarities of his memory, and he found himself no longer in front of his old house on Earth, but back on Nova, his head still hanging out the open window.

The human boy heaved another deep sigh, full of sorrow and disappointment. And that clump found him once more. Found him, and held him fast. Perhaps after something to eat, and a friendly chat with Phlox he would feel better not knowing who he was, and why he was here.

That early autumn wind seemed to be unusually busy today. Not only did it hold refreshing qualities, and carry a long forgotten memory, but it brought to the boy angry voices. That peaked his interests greatly, and Sim thought, just for a moment- as not to eavesdrop-, that he would hang around for a minute or two.

There were two of them, of what he could tell.

One voice was extremely upset and aggravated, Sim recognized it as Sir's. His voice wasn't usually like this. In fact, this was the first time Sim had even heard Sir's voice raised in anger, but he could still tell by the seer complexity of the voice, that it was his. The other voice, undoubtedly belonged to Aurora. His voice held no emotion, and remained monotone through the entire conversation.

Sim thought, no knew, he shouldn't listen. This was a private conversation between the Captain and his Sub-commander. But since he was being gypped on life, why should he show others different respect.

Sim stuck his neck out further, and glanced around. He couldn't see their faces or figures, but what he did see, were their shadows lurking around the corner of Phlox's house. They seemed to be so far, yet incredibly close.

"Captain, do you understand what is going on?" asked Aurora.

Sir said nothing, even his shadow stood still.

"It is not how Dr. Phlox expected it to be. The Simularion is not a brain dead, motionless figure who sits in Sick-Bay all day. It is a conscious entity, with thoughts and opinions.--"

"--I know that, Aurora." Sir interrupted. Sim saw the Captain's shadow begin to pace. Aurora's remained motionless, holding something in his hand. Probably that scanner he never separated with.

"I know that..." Sir sighed in an undertone. "But we need him. He is essential to this mission. If we ever plan to get this ship up and operational again, we need Charles Tucker, and the only way we're going to get Tucker, is to take the Simularion's neural tissue. We ne--"

"Nor is he some piece of fruit, that we simply allow to live, only until he is ripe, then do we pluck him from the tree! He is alive! He even has the skills and memories as the original does. In all essence, Captain, he is the original--"

"HE IS NOT THE ORIGONAL!" The Captain bellowed. Sim abruptly startled at the suddenness of the booming voice. The thought of closing the window grew ever more, but the growth of his curiosity far surpassed it. Sim saw his Captain's shadow thump it's fists angrily against the walls of another house.

He could feel the prickles rising up his spine again, but the wind had long died.

It took a moment for Sir to calm down. The arms of his shadow fell limply to his sides, as he hung his head in almost shame.

Aurora said nothing.

"Look,...if it weren't for these condi--..." Sir hesitated, "...--if we didn't need to complete this mission as soon as possible, then my answer would probably have been different, but since we do...- I see this as the most logical and immediate resolution out there, that we have in option! Aurora, we need to get back into sub-space as quickly as possible, and if we don't...god-knows what'll happen to Earth."

Finally, before the Candorian spoke, his voice monotone and icy, he had cleared his throat, "...Phlox says that the Simularion is starting to ask questions. Someone needs to sit down and answer them...Perhaps I should--"

"--No," Sir interrupted, "I'll do it...I gave the order to create him, and I should be the one to tell him why."

"Alright, Johnathan." Aurora whispered.

Who was Johnathan, Sim wondered. Obviously it was Sir's first name, he thought. The boy continued to strain, hoping not to miss any more, and hoping that wasn't the end of it either.

The two shadow's remained motionless, facing each other. Sim thought for a moment the two would kiss, the way they stood so eerily close. Then he remembered, "that wasn't Sir's way".

When the young Candorian's voice finally came, it was hushed and impassive.

"I understand and agree with you, Johnathan." Aurora finally whispered, " This mission needs to be complete, and it needs to be complete now. We must proceed."

Sim watched the slighter of the two shadows turn from the other, and head back down the alley formed by the other houses. It stopped after only a few steps. " I still think it's immoral though." Aurora had called before completely disappearing.

Sim watched the shadow of Sir turn around and head in the opposite direction of Aurora, and completely toward his open window. Only just, did the young human have time to duck inside, crouch under the window, and hear the footfalls of his Captain pass by.

He breathed deeply. Had what he thought was correct? Were they actually meeting secretly to talk about him? Of course not. He wasn't the only thing in the Captain's life. Sir was a busy man, and as a busy man, he had to have busy secrets.

Sim stood to his feet, and brushed himself off. It didn't really matter, he thought. Let "Johnathan" and Phlox keep their little secrets from him. He didn't care.

Anyways, they couldn't have been talking about him. They said the Simal- whatever it was, was being grown only for it's brain. He distinctly remembered his father saying to him, "Trip, sometimes I think you were born without a brain" So it couldn't have been him.

Sim stopped brushing his jumpsuit off, and stared at the hard wood floor. His father always called him Trip, as did his mother and sister. He thought for a moment, thinking that was the first time he had ever heard that word, but it seemed so natural and so, casual. It suited him just fine, wherever it had came from. "Odd." he mumbled.

"Sim, what are you doing? I thought I told you breakfast was ready." called the doctor's voice from the miniature maze of hallways and rooms. "If you like that bird so much, maybe Sir can catch one for you."

Sim had forgotten all about the robin that had awoken him, and it took a moment for him to answer Phlox,

"It doesn't matter." he called half-heartedly. "A lot of things don't matter..." he mumbled to himself.

Sim followed the doctors voice, his feet felt like they had treaded the path to the kitchen a thousand times before, moving only on instinct.

When he arrived, Dr. Phlox was standing over the table, placing two fried eggs from a frying pan onto an empty plate using a spatula. Sim noticed two more plates set at the table, both were already made. He also saw three plastic cups set closely to each plate. He could only assume they were full of Orange Juice.

Sim cleared his throat, announcing his presence. "Hey doc." he greeted, walking towards the small circular table. "Good morning, Sim." Phlox replied, as he placed the empty frying pan and spatula onto the obsessively clean island countertop, which separated the kitchen from the dining area.

Phlox pulled back a chair for the boy, and took a seat across from him. Sim sat down on the wooden chair, and pulled it closer to the table. He looked down at the eggs hungrily, but he didn't feel the desire to eat them. They looked good, and Phlox made the best eggs, but food seemed to have lost it's appeal.

His crystal blue eyes shifted toward the other plate, placed conveniently between himself and the doctor. He glanced from Phlox, who was hungrily devouring his eggs, and back at the full plate with an empty chair.

"A-are you going to eat that?" Sim asked honestly. Maybe he was, Denobulain's had a reputation for eating a larger quantity of food then human's did.

Phlox glanced toward the human boy, then at the plate he was gesturing at. "oh no." he corrected. "Captain is coming to dine with us this late summer morning."

"Dine with us?"

"Yes, eat with us. You know, shove food down his throat-hole at the same time we do, in our company."

"Yeah, I know what dinning with the cap-- why all of a sudden? - with no announcement?" Sim stuttered. Phlox's joke tickled him, but he couldn't be sidetracked by humour, not when "Johnathan" was arriving unannounced.

The doctor shrugged his shoulders and placed a fork full of yolk into his mouth. "Does a Captain need an excuse to eat with his Physician and his...-um..uh-.."

"pet?" Sim suggested.

"--Friend" Phlox quickly corrected." Does Sir need an excuse to dine with his friends?"

"I don't know. What is Sir up to?"

Phlox flashed him a humourless stare, and opened his mouth, about to tell the human boy to show more respect for his superiors, when the Captain himself, turned the knob of the patio's glass door, and walked in.

"Ah-Captain." Phlox greeted, placing his fork down and gesturing toward the empty chair. "Welcome to breakfast."

Sir stood by the door a moment, and peered down at his plain meal. He flashed Sim a wink, and turned to the doctor, "Eggs, Phlox?" he smirked.

Phlox gazed back at him, not hurt or confused, but defiantly surprised by the Captain's reaction. He glanced from Sir to Sim.

"I don't understand. I did my research on the computer, and it said that the most common and casual item for breakfast on Earth in North America, was Fried Eggs. Perhaps it was wrong. Should I prepare something else?" he rambled.

The Captain chuckled to himself, obviously amused, and took the seat between his two hosts. He picked up his fork, and snickered " No, Phlox. Eggs are just fine. I was only teasing you."

"oh." said Phlox slowly, not really understanding the joke. "Good one, Johnathan."

The atmosphere had loosened after that. Sim felt more at ease, seeing Sir joke and kid, instead of hearing him scream at his Sub-commander. He had almost forgotten about the conversation he had overheard only moments ago, what with all the casual talk and banter cascading throughout the small kitchen, when Johnathan turned to him, and asked "What do you have planned for today, Sim?"

If it weren't for that serious glint in his coffee eyes, Sim would have thought it an honest question, instead of some sort of interrogation.

The boy broke gaze with the Captain, and searched for something to distract him. He peered down at his plate, and was surprised to find that both his eggs had been eaten, and the silver fork was stained with hardened yolk. Had he really been so involved with the conversation, that he forgot about not eating?

Sim forced himself to stare back at Sir.

"I d-don't know." he stuttered, unable to think of something. "Maybe I'll start some sort of project, down in engineering."

"A project?" Johnathan asked.

"Yeah, maybe something like, helping to rebuild the warp reactor. It hasn't been touched in years, and it's essential if we plan to go anywhere. I bet you I could have it fixed in about a month." The last sentence, Sim had said almost jokingly, but the reaction he had got was not anticipated.

Johnathan choked on the cup of orange juice he was sipping from, and Phlox's eyes slowly shifted away from his own, misted and despairing. Sim was absolutely sure the doctor was about to burst into tears. They both quickly glanced at each other, almost too quick for Sim to catch.

"Y-you don't say?" Captain Johnathan sputtered, wiping the orange juice from his lips.

"Uh...yeah." Sim sat ridged in his chair. He wasn't sure if he should leave, or stay, or just ignore the fact.

"Huh." Sir grunted plainly as if to say, 'how about that?'

"Well, if you don't mind putting that aside for..um..today,...then maybe you and I could spend a little time together?" he continued.

Sim suddenly remembered what Aurora had said. "Some one needs to sit down and answer his questions" the Candorian's voice echoed in his hollow head.

No, Sim thought, It couldn't be me. Like what I said before, I'm not the only thing in Captain's life. Surely, Aurora and him were talking about someone else. Someone they kept hidden away in Sick-Bay, some super secret personage. Besides, Sir had always been there for him. He would never allow Sim to grow, simply to harvest his brain, that just wasn't who he was.

Johnathan had been with him, since he could remember, straight from birth. Although it was weird, he thought, that even when he could remember being barely old enough to read, Sir was there, but so were his parents. In fact, if he remembered correctly, his parents were the ones who taught him how, yet Sim had never seen all three of them together. Ever. How was that possible, having two sets of memories that didn't coincide with each other. It tore his poor little brain thinking about it.

"Sim?" Johnathan abruptly interrupted, and brought him back to the kitchen table where four eyes were staring curiously at him, two light brown, and two pumpkin orange.

"Hm, what?" he started.

"I understand if you'd rather hang around Engineering all day, but...I just thought you'd like to spend some time with your Captain." Sir dragged on. Finally, he had finished his large plate of a whopping two eggs, and placed the empty dishes beside Phlox's frying pan. Sim glanced over, and noticed the Denobulian had long since finished his plate.

His gaze shifted to the sullen face of Phlox, as he tried to ignore the fact that the Denobulain's eyes still glistened with the hint of tears, "If you don't object Doctor, but I wouldn't mind spending the day with Sir." he asked.

"oh no, It's all right with me. I'm clearly fine with it." Phlox muttered. Sim noticed he was staring deliberately out the kitchen window, and not into the boy's face. Slowly he stood, grabbing both his own, and the child's empty plates. "Don't worry about me, I'll just clean this up. Perhaps today I can work in my lab. See what I can grow out of a ja--." Phlox stopped himself short, and nervously glanced at Sir, who returned his gaze with a cold warning stare.

"S-see what I can grow." he tweaked his words promptly. Jonathan's eyes softened and turned back to Sim.

"Well," said Sir casually, "Shall we be off?"

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_What the hell is with the changes: _Yeah, there's a little bit of changes. The biggest one being the elimination of T'pol. Not that I don't like that character, I just thought it would be more... -interesting, lets say-, If Trip had a crush on an a-sexual character, (like the co-generate from that one episode where they meet those guys who had more than one gender, and he was all like, WTF? and decided to be all 'righteous' and try and save her/him -it, but just ended up cornering it into suicide. PS- I soooo wanted Archer to back hand Trip when he called him into his ready room at the end of the show and told him what 'Charles' had done. For the longest time, I thought he was going to too. Hell, that was a funny episode... yes, I ramble)

instead of T'pol, cause that would've been too easy. Anyways, I made it that way, cause that's how I make things... Kind of random and stupid.

Another evident change, was the situation.

As in the episode, or almost 'alternate ending or universe' where Archer loses his memories and has those brain parasites, the crew of the Enterprise are stranded on a habitable planet. You know, that episode always pissed me off. I watched it, and at the end they were all like "And Phlox killed them, so Archer never had them in the past, and none of this actually happened -the end", I was all like "What the hell?" So that had absolutely nothing to do with anything? Except that they were saying stuff like, 'that could actually happen, or has happened, and were just don't know it, due to time and space.' Makes you think...

Though I did like that episode too. Even if it was a little retarded.


	2. Chapter 2

Two pairs of feet strolled their way through an empty hall. The walls were made of complete steel, as was the ceiling, with simply a black through rug, racing it's way throughout the maze of twists and turns that was Johnathan Archer's ship.

The two pairs of feet belonged to none other than the Captain himself, and his young companion, Sim.

Enterprise was deserted except for the two. Sir had ordered that all persons were to be removed from the ship, and be stationed on the planet, but within their claimed boundaries.

About five years ago, SEF(Space Exploration Forces) set out a surveyor vessel to chart unknown areas of their galaxy, and others nearby. That ship was the Enterprise. Captain Johnathan Archer's mission was simple; graph and inspect any new uncultivated planet within their Territory. A pleasure Johnathan had, was to meet and greet new alien species, the first encounter was very important.

And so five years ago, the Enterprise came across a smaller vessel, belonging to the race of Xindi. Poor, unsuspecting and naive Archer welcomed them aboard, having a positive reaction with other first encounters. The Xindi boarded, and executed all female crewman, under the impression that the humans were reproducing on this craft, and so increasing their population in order to invade and cultivate any desolate planet, thus spreading their species.

Now Xindi are not a very friendly race, they like to be dominant, and the idea of a growing alien population expanding toward their own galaxy and home planet wasn't a very comforting thought. So after the massacre, they placed a micro-explosive in Enterprise's Warp Reactor.

When Archer and his remaining crew started the engines again to follow the Xindi ship's warp trail, their Warp Reactor imploded. The ship was forced down onto a nearby planet, fortunately, it was a scanned planet, and they knew the elements in it's atmosphere were made mostly of Nitrogen and Oxygen. It was habitable, for now.

For five years, Archer's remaining crew had laboured over their ruined craft. Within the last month they had grown so incredibly close to completion, but then... a disastrous accident struck, and they were left stranded again.

"This way." Sir instructed.

Johnathan walked up to a steel door, and it automatically slide open. Sim trailed behind his Captain, as entered into a dimly lit room.

Archer had lead the teenage boy in to his personal quarters.

Sim walked into his master's room, and glanced around, surprised at the extreme neatness. Not knowing what else to do, he sauntered over, and sat down on Sir's bed.

Archer suddenly whistled, and a small land mammal bounded across the room toward him.

"Hey, Porthos." Johnathan cooed, and scooped the small Beagle into his arms, "Hey boy."

"How cute." Sim admired. "Can he do any tricks?"

Sir glanced at Sim as he placed the dog down onto his bed, beside his other pet. "Well.." he dragged, "he can eat and sleep...not play fetch though. For some reason, I'm under the impression that he believes it to be degrading. Although I did try to teach him once, but after the age of eight months he stopped. Must've realized he was the only one chasing the tennis ball."

Sim chuckled, and reached out to gently stroke the back of Porthos' head, while the dog kept trying to lick his hand, in his own manner of greeting.

" I used to have a dog once..." Sim mumbled absent-mindedly, as he continued to try to pet the dog, and the dog continued to try to lick him. "...We called him Draco because he was as large as a Dragon,...and had the breath of one too."

Johnathan shifted his feet uneasily, trying to overcome the guiltiness he felt, somewhere in the pit of his stomach.

"Me and my baby sister Emily, used to play for hours with him..." Sim continued, "He was always so happy..."

"I see." Archer stated stiffly. Sim glanced upward, back toward the man standing only a few feet from him, and saw how rigid and anxious the Captain's face appeared to be. Awkwardly, the boy shifted his gaze, shifted them to somewhere else, anywhere else, and sparkling eyes fell upon a photograph, neatly placed on the Captain's wooden desk, of an older man.

Sim looked at the surprisingly intact photograph thoughtfully, pondering possible answers.

"Oh!" he exclaimed upon finding a suitable one, "That's Zephram Cocrine!". The boy excitedly stood up and stepped toward the Mahogany desk. He picked up the plastic frame with delicate fingers, as not to damage it in anyway, and stared with great admiration into a pair of tired emerald green eyes.

"This was the man who first developed Warp Drive." he whispered in awe, gazing upon the withered face of a fifty-two year old man. "He's practically my hero... Without his efforts, we'd still be stuck on that little planet."

Sim suddenly turned apologetically to Johnathan, "Not that I don't like Earth. You know, it's my favourite place in the whole world, in a matter of speaking."

Johnathan smirked, amused, "Yeah it's a pretty nice place." he chuckled.

Sim rounded on the photograph in his hands again. There were trees in the background. Large ones, the size of perhaps, Enterprise. If he could recall correctly, they were called Douglas Firs, and there was only a few of them left on Earth. They were one of the planet's many endangered species.

Gently, the boy stroked the captured image of the planets sky, almost longingly. He could remember spending long summer days with his friends at the lake, lying on the grass, and staring up into space, wondering if one day they could travel to stars so distant, that from where the were, couldn't be seen.

"...I miss Earth..." he sighed to himself.

Johnathan said nothing in response, but after a minute of dead silence, forcibly cleared his throat.

Sim glanced over his shoulder at him, and lightly placed the photograph back down. "Sorry," he smiled.

"--You know Sim," Archer began quickly, "I think the Launch Bay would be a better place to hang out, don't you? In fact, there's something down there you might be interested in...There's not much of really anything in here,...Except of course, Porthos."

Sim smiled, "Sure" he agreed.

It took the two only a few short moments to reach Launch Bay One, even though it was five floors below them. But with a brief walk back down the hall, and an even briefer trip in the turbo lift, the two humans found themselves in a very large, empty room.

Sir was right, Sim thought sarcastically, the Launch Bay is a much better place to hang out.

Where they had arrived, seemed to be incredibly bare.

In the centre of the Launch Bay was a Shuttle Pod, directly below it a trap door, and attached to the balcony, were control panels for the Launch Bay doors, and other operations. Besides those two objects, and the metal staircase leading to the balcony, the room was virtually vacant. And as the rest of the ship, it was constructed of primarily steel, giving it a very "metal box" appearance.

The Captain looked back at Sim expectantly. "Roomy, huh?" he asked.

Sim raised his eyebrows dubiously, and quickly glanced around. "Definitely roomy," he said.

The boy watched his Captain trudge toward the Shuttle Pod, open the hatch door, and rummaged around the insides, without saying a word. To be in such a large, empty, place was new to him, and made him feel slightly edgy.

"This is the perfect place,..." called the muffled voice of Captain Archer, "...to fly,...one of these." He suddenly withdrew from the Shuttle, holding a medium sized box under his arm. Then slammed the hatch door closed, and trudged back to Sim, unfolding the box's flaps as he came.

"I know when you were younger,... " Johnathan explained, extracting a Styrofoam covered object form the white cardboard box, "...that you had one of these. So I thought it would be fun, if you and I could play with it."

Images and memories of old toys and collectibles desperately played in the boy's head. He could only guess which one it might be. Sim stared eagerly at the mysterious padded item in which Sir was exposing. After a short battle with the Styrofoam, he held triumphantly in his hands,... a fully functional hover-craft.

Archer glanced up at Sim after revealing his present, and tried to gauge the boy's reaction. A delightful gleam of desire that shone in the Sim's gemstone eyes, told Archer he had picked the right box.

"A-A..." Sim stuttered, a little stunned, but thoroughly surprised and excited.

"A hover-craft?" Johnathan asked. Sim shock his head vigorously, his eyes never parting the small semi- plastic and part metal, hover toy.

"How did you know?" he asked, after the moment of disbelief had passed. He gently traced a slim finger down the nose of the small craft, feeling smoothness which plastic could only bestow.

Sir didn't reply, forcing Sim to avert his gaze, and shift toward his Captain.

"Sir? How did you know?" he reiterated.

Jonathan's tongue felt thick and dead, like some large disgusting fish between his teeth. "How did I know?" he confirmed, and sighed, stressfully thinking. "What man didn't have this toy growing up? Especially if they're in the Space Travel business."

He had hoped that elaborate explanation had satisfied what ever needed to be satisfied, and didn't require further extensions. The real surprise had to wait until later. The kind of later that was never meant to actually come, the kind of later that was difficult when it finally came.

Nevertheless, that simpleton answer seemed to please the simpleton, for Sim nodded his head in agreement.

"Would you like to have the first fly?" Johnathan offered, holding out the craft. "Captain?"

"Watch it, watch it... Keep the nose up, keep the nose up!... Okay now, good... Just level in out..."

called a tense voice, echoing throughout the unfilled air that was Launch Bay One. It ricocheted off the silence and metal walls, back to the strained ears of Sim.

"That's good flying." Johnathan complimented, after Sim had levelled out the remote controlled hover-craft, flying ten feet above their heads, in a zigzag like pattern. Ten minutes ago, the boy had trouble just keeping the toy from crashing into walls, which was really the only obstacle, but nevertheless, was still a difficult task.

His young face was furrowed in a deep concentrated stare, not once letting the hover-craft escape his sight.

It took another few moments for him to relax and feel comfortable at the wheel of a vessel as precious as this.

A thought struck him suddenly, without any evidence of being conjured, it was just abruptly there. He wanted to become a Starship Captain.

"You know my mom wants me to be an architect, can you believe that?" he sneered distastefully, " And my dad wants me to be an engineer one day. Which I guess is a bit better than being,.. you know,...an architect."

Although Sim caught a glimpse of the momentary stiffness on Sir's face, when he glanced quickly over to read the Captain's expression more closely, by that time he was already smirking. What ever deep feelings the Captain truly had, obviously, he had learned to keep them hidden. Or at least tried.

"Oh yeah?" Sir snorted.

"Yeah, but do you know what I really want to do?" Sim said in a more serious note. As serious as a teenage boy could be, "I wanna do this, I wanna command and fly one of SEF's Starships." Sim paused thoughtfully, "I wanna be just like you."

Even though he had caught the uncomfortable grimace on Jonathan's face previously, he completely missed the sharp smile Archer had flashed him. It meant nothing more than, "that's cute kid", in an almost condescending way.

"In fact, I bet I could tell you what my dad would say if I ever told him," Sim continued to chatter, trying to operate the Starship and hold a conversation at the same time, that too, proving difficult, " he'd probably say something to me like," Sim deepened his voice dramatically, trying imitate that of his father's, "Trip," he began, paying no attention to the returned expression on Johnathan's face, the same one he had hoped to catch a moment ago, the one of somber and attentive alertness, "If you become an engineer, than perhaps you can engineer a ship for SEF, hell, perhaps even become a Chief Engineer one day. But if you decide to become a Captain, what good'll that do'ya?"

His father, in Sim's opinion, always thought himself to be correct, no matter how foolish he sounded . Sim chuckled to emphasize that it was a joke when Johnathan didn't.

In fact, he didn't even reply, not that he didn't find it funny, but for the collected guilt in his stomach, left the air dead once more. Sim felt that the silence was too overpowering, and was compelled to keep it that way. His gaze shifted from the Starship, to it's controls. That irrepressible knot formed again, causing the all too familiar feeling of disappointment and, this time a hint of shame to override his mind.

For only a moment, simply because he could contain it no longer, Sim studied the joysticks and buttons on the control. But the question, like something sticky and wet stuck dead in his throat, had to be forced out. He bided his time, and edited his thoughts, making sure what he was to say, was said correctly, because the thought of repeating those words, made his stomach churn.

"Sir?" he cautiously drawled, "Why is it that everyone here calls me Sim, but my parents,...and Emily,...They all call me Trip?"

'Dammit', Johnathan thought angrily, 'so he had noticed that too. It's not like it was some miniscule detail either. Things like that only needed time before it rose to the surface.'

"Where is my family?" Sim whispered. He felt his voice begin to give, "Why am I here?"

'It was time' Sir decided, 'he has the right to know.'

The Captain cleared his throat, uncomfortably and forcibly, merely to prepare the silence for his important words to follow.

"That's a little difficult to explain," was all he said at first. Sim had suspected something simple like that to cover the truth, but what came next was completely unanticipated. "...Perhaps I should show you."

A breath of hope passed wildly through his fragile mind, "Wha-" he sputtered, and tore his gaze away from the answerless controls. Their eyes locked for a simple moment, a pair of blue and brown caught in each other's stare.

Sir felt he had to break their connection, feeling he could no longer stare at his desperate friend. The guilt was too much, it ate him from the inside, but whatever interior battle was being fought within him, it showed no sign on his emotionless face. To himself, it felt whenever he looked into Sim's eyes, he saw someone else's. Someone's who were exactly the same in every way, the only difference being, they belonged to another.

Sir opened his mouth, and parted his lips slowly, ready to say something, ready to explain, but the words kept getting lost in his head, kept getting pushed further away, by some nervous force. With an averted gaze, he cleared his throat again, and quickly spoke in a very casual manner, "Accompany me down to the Sick bay."

Words lost Sim too, and struck him mute. Though he tried to eagerly accept his Captain's order, his jaw was clamped shut, so he nodded his reply.


End file.
